The Performance of New Zealand Universities in International Rankings
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The performance of New Zealand universities in international rankings This report forms part of a series called Supporting the tertiary education system. Author Warren Smart, Principal Research Analyst Email: [email protected] Telephone: 04-463-8035 Acknowledgements The author gratefully acknowledges comments provided by Roger Smyth (Ministry of Education), Jonathan Hughes (Universities New Zealand), and reviewers at the Tertiary Education Commission and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. The author also gratefully acknowledges Alison Lipski, who proof-read this report. All views expressed in this report, and any remaining errors or omissions, remain the responsibility of the author. Published by Tertiary Sector Performance Analysis Tertiary, International and System Performance MINISTRY OF EDUCATION © Crown Copyright This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence. You are free to copy, distribute and adapt the work, as long as you attribute the work to the copyright holder and abide by the other licence terms. To view a copy of this licence, visit www.creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0/nz/. This report is available from the Ministry of Education’s Education Counts website: www.educationcounts.govt.nz. March 2014 ISBN (web) 978-0-478-42256-6 The performance of New Zealand universities in international rankings 1 Introduction 2 2 Background 3 3 Academic Ranking of World Universities 5 4 Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings 14 5 Times Higher Education World University Rankings 29 6 Conclusion 37 Appendix A Component scores 38 References 41 FIGURES 1 Estimated ARWU overall rankings for New Zealand universities 7 2 Share of ARWU top 500 universities by region 8 3 Share of ARWU top 500 universities by selected countries 8 4 ARWU component scores and overall score at New Zealand universities 9 5 ARWU overall score for Australasian universities 2013 10 6 ARWU component scores for Australasian universities 2013 11 7 Change in ARWU overall ranking 2012-2013 12 8 Change in average ARWU component score 2012-2013 13 9 Change in ARWU overall ranking 2006-2013 13 10 Ranking of New Zealand universities in QS World University Rankings 17 11 Number of universities in top 200 in QS World University Rankings by selected countries 17 12 QS component scores 18 13 QS overall score and ranking for University of Auckland 19 14 Change in QS ranking among Australasian universities listed in top 400 in both 2012 and 2013 21 15 Change in QS ranking among Australasian universities listed in top 400 in both 2007 and 2013 22 16 QS overall score 2013 23 17 QS component scores of Australasian universities 2013 24 18 Average change in component scores for Australasian universities 2012-2013 27 19 Change in score and rank for Australasian universities 2012-2013 27 20 THE component scores (component weightings in brackets) 31 21 Overall score of Australasian universities in THE top 400 2013/14 33 22 Teaching score of Australasian universities in THE top 400 2013/14 33 23 International outlook score of Australasian universities in THE top 400 2013/14 34 24 Industry income score of Australasian universities in THE top 400 2013/14 34 25 Research score of Australasian universities in THE top 400 2013/14 35 26 Citations score of Australasian universities in THE top 400 2013/14 35 TABLES 1 ARWU indicators 5 2 Top five universities in ARWU 6 3 Official ARWU overall ranking bands for New Zealand universities 6 4 Estimated ARWU overall rankings for New Zealand universities 7 5 Pearson correlation coefficients for the six ARWU component scores for Australasian universities 2013 12 6 Component measures used in QS World University Rankings 14 7 Top five universities in QS World University Rankings 15 8 QS World University Rankings for New Zealand universities 16 9 QS World University Rankings for Australasian universities (sorted by 2013 ranking) 20 10 Pearson correlation coefficients of component scores for Australasian universities in QS top 400 2013 26 11 Descriptions of components used to determine THE World University Rankings 2013/14 29 12 Top five universities in THE World University Rankings 30 13 Rankings of New Zealand universities in THE World University Rankings 30 14 Rankings of Australasian universities in THE World University Rankings 32 15 Pearson correlation coefficients for Australasian universities’ component scores in THE top 400 2013 36 16 ARWU component scores for New Zealand universities 38 17 QS component scores for New Zealand universities 39 18 THE Component scores for New Zealand universities 40 SUMMARY Despite being subject to much criticism, international university rankings are attracting more coverage, are proliferating, and appear to be here to stay. Most countries and universities at the very least monitor the results of the rankings when they are published. Many universities strive to improve their rankings. In this study, we examine the performance of New Zealand universities in the ‘big three’ university rankings: the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In the high-profile QS ranking, there has been a downward trend in the rankings for the top- placed New Zealand universities. However, all of our universities are currently placed in the QS top 500, something not achieved by the Australian, Canadian or United Kingdom university systems. Also, the performance of New Zealand universities in the QS subject-level rankings tend to be higher than in other rankings. In the THE and ARWU rankings, the picture was mixed. For example, the University of Auckland has remained relatively stable in both the ARWU and the THE rankings over time. While the University of Otago (and the University of Canterbury more recently) has been improving in the ARWU, Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) have dropped in ranking in recent years. Both of the latter universities have also exhibited recent falls in THE ranking. We also compare the rankings of New Zealand universities with Australian universities. One New Zealand university, the University of Auckland, was placed among the Australian Group of Eight (G8) universities in all three rankings, while the University of Otago was placed just outside the G8, but above other Australian universities. The remaining listed New Zealand universities were generally spread among the remaining non-G8 universities. The performance of the Australian universities in the rankings, especially the non-G8 universities, suggests that wider trends are impacting on the Australasian universities. For example, all the listed Australasian universities dropped in the QS rankings between 2007 and 2013. The rise of universities from Asian countries in the rankings is one factor in displacing the Australasian universities. The performance of New Zealand universities in international rankings Ministry of Education 1 1 INTRODUCTION Although controversial, international university rankings are now an established part of the higher education landscape, with considerable attention placed on them when they are published. In particular, the rankings generate considerable media interest and increasingly feature in debates about the international education market and public policy making. Until recently, the most prominent rankings systems were the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In recent years the QS and ARWU have been joined by a third: the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings.1 There have also been offshoots of these rankings, with subject-level and newer university rankings appearing.2 A previous Ministry of Education report3 examined the performance of New Zealand universities in two of the rankings. Given that four years have passed since that report appeared and with the emergence of another major ranking to join the other two, it is timely to update the performance of New Zealand universities in the three major international rankings – QS, THE and ARWU. When the university rankings are published, there is often a short-term focus on how the rankings have changed from the previous year. In this study, we examine longitudinal data from the rankings to get a longer-term view on how New Zealand universities have tracked over time. To benchmark the performance of New Zealand universities, we compare our performance with that of the Australian universities to see if any trends in New Zealand university performance are mirrored by our closest neighbour. The structure of this report is as follows: • In section 2 we present a background on the three rankings examined in this study. • In section 3 we present the ARWU rankings. • In section 4 we present the results of the QS rankings. • In section 5 we present the THE rankings. • In section 6 we summarise performance in each of the rankings in 2013. • Finally, in section 7 we present a conclusion. 1 Originally published under the Times Higher Education banner, the QS rankings attempted to take a wider view of university performance and included measures to capture reputation and teaching performance in universities. In 2009, THE and QS severed their relationship and THE set up its own rankings while QS continued to publish rankings under its own banner. 2 For a description of all the rankings systems that are currently published, see Rauhvargers (2013). 3 Smart (2010). 2 The performance of New Zealand universities in international rankings Ministry of Education 2 BACKGROUND History of the rankings Of the three rankings we analyse in this study, the oldest is the ARWU. This ranking (originally called the Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings) was created by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China to benchmark its own performance against other universities. A year after the ARWU rankings emerged, the QS rankings were first published. Originally published under the Times Higher Education (THE) banner, the QS rankings attempted to take a wider view of university performance and included measures to capture reputation and teaching performance in universities.